king speech thesis

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington. AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington.

Monday marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Below is a transcript of his celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Talk of the Nation aired the speech in 2010 — listen to that broadcast at the audio link above.

Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders gather before a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. National Archives/Hulton Archive via Getty Images hide caption

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

Code Switch

The power of martin luther king jr.'s anger.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

Martin Luther King is not your mascot

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Civil rights protesters march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. Kurt Severin/Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Throughline

Bayard rustin: the man behind the march on washington (2021).

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

How The Voting Rights Act Came To Be And How It's Changed

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

People clap and sing along to a freedom song between speeches at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Express Newspapers via Getty Images hide caption

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

Nikole Hannah-Jones on the power of collective memory

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

Correction Jan. 15, 2024

A previous version of this transcript included the line, "We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now." The correct wording is "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now."

A Summary and Analysis of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘I Have a Dream’ is one of the greatest speeches in American history. Delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68) in Washington D.C. in 1963, the speech is a powerful rallying cry for racial equality and for a fairer and equal world in which African Americans will be as free as white Americans.

If you’ve ever stayed up till the small hours working on a presentation you’re due to give the next day, tearing your hair out as you try to find the right words, you can take solace in the fact that as great an orator as Martin Luther King did the same with one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered.

He reportedly stayed up until 4am the night before he was due to give his ‘I Have a Dream’, writing it out in longhand. You can read the speech in full here .

‘I Have a Dream’: background

The occasion for King’s speech was the march on Washington , which saw some 210,000 African American men, women, and children gather at the Washington Monument in August 1963, before marching to the Lincoln Memorial.

They were marching for several reasons, including jobs (many of them were out of work), but the main reason was freedom: King and many other Civil Rights leaders sought to remove segregation of black and white Americans and to ensure black Americans were treated the same as white Americans.

1963 was the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation , in which then US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) had freed the African slaves in the United States in 1863. But a century on from the abolition of slavery, King points out, black Americans still are not free in many respects.

‘I Have a Dream’: summary

King begins his speech by reminding his audience that it’s a century, or ‘five score years’, since that ‘great American’ Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This ensured the freedom of the African slaves, but Black Americans are still not free, King points out, because of racial segregation and discrimination.

America is a wealthy country, and yet many Black Americans live in poverty. It is as if the Black American is an exile in his own land. King likens the gathering in Washington to cashing a cheque: in other words, claiming money that is due to be paid.

Next, King praises the ‘magnificent words’ of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence . King compares these documents to a promissory note, because they contain the promise that all men, including Black men, will be guaranteed what the Declaration of Independence calls ‘inalienable rights’: namely, ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

King asserts that America in the 1960s has ‘defaulted’ on this promissory note: in other words, it has refused to pay up. King calls it a ‘sacred obligation’, but America as a nation is like someone who has written someone else a cheque that has bounced and the money owed remains to be paid. But it is not because the money isn’t there: America, being a land of opportunity, has enough ‘funds’ to ensure everyone is prosperous enough.

King urges America to rise out of the ‘valley’ of segregation to the ‘sunlit path of racial justice’. He uses the word ‘brotherhood’ to refer to all Americans, since all men and women are God’s children. He also repeatedly emphasises the urgency of the moment. This is not some brief moment of anger but a necessary new start for America. However, King cautions his audience not to give way to bitterness and hatred, but to fight for justice in the right manner, with dignity and discipline.

Physical violence and militancy are to be avoided. King recognises that many white Americans who are also poor and marginalised feel a kinship with the Civil Rights movement, so all Americans should join together in the cause. Police brutality against Black Americans must be eradicated, as must racial discrimination in hotels and restaurants. States which forbid Black Americans from voting must change their laws.

Martin Luther King then comes to the most famous part of his speech, in which he uses the phrase ‘I have a dream’ to begin successive sentences (a rhetorical device known as anaphora ). King outlines the form that his dream, or ambition or wish for a better America, takes.

His dream, he tells his audience, is ‘deeply rooted’ in the American Dream: that notion that anybody, regardless of their background, can become prosperous and successful in the United States. King once again reminds his listeners of the opening words of the Declaration of Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

In his dream of a better future, King sees the descendants of former Black slaves and the descendants of former slave owners united, sitting and eating together. He has a dream that one day his children will live in a country where they are judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

Even in Mississippi and Alabama, states which are riven by racial injustice and hatred, people of all races will live together in harmony. King then broadens his dream out into ‘our hope’: a collective aspiration and endeavour. King then quotes the patriotic American song ‘ My Country, ’Tis of Thee ’, which describes America as a ‘sweet land of liberty’.

King uses anaphora again, repeating the phrase ‘let freedom ring’ several times in succession to suggest how jubilant America will be on the day that such freedoms are ensured. And when this happens, Americans will be able to join together and be closer to the day when they can sing a traditional African-American hymn : ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.’

‘I Have a Dream’: analysis

Although Martin Luther King’s speech has become known by the repeated four-word phrase ‘I Have a Dream’, which emphasises the personal nature of his vision, his speech is actually about a collective dream for a better and more equal America which is not only shared by many Black Americans but by anyone who identifies with their fight against racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination.

Nevertheless, in working from ‘I have a dream’ to a different four-word phrase, ‘this is our hope’. The shift is natural and yet it is a rhetorical masterstroke, since the vision of a better nation which King has set out as a very personal, sincere dream is thus telescoped into a universal and collective struggle for freedom.

What’s more, in moving from ‘dream’ to a different noun, ‘hope’, King suggests that what might be dismissed as an idealistic ambition is actually something that is both possible and achievable. No sooner has the dream gathered momentum than it becomes a more concrete ‘hope’.

In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, King was doing more than alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years earlier. The opening words to his speech, ‘Five score years ago’, allude to a specific speech Lincoln himself had made a century before: the Gettysburg Address .

In that speech, delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery (now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863, Lincoln had urged his listeners to continue in the fight for freedom, envisioning the day when all Americans – including Black slaves – would be free. His speech famously begins with the words: ‘Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’

‘Four score and seven years’ is eighty-seven years, which takes us back from 1863 to 1776, the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, Martin Luther King’s allusion to the words of Lincoln’s historic speech do two things: they call back to Lincoln’s speech but also, by extension, to the founding of the United States almost two centuries before. Although Lincoln and the American Civil War represented progress in the cause to make all Americans free regardless of their ethnicity, King makes it clear in ‘I Have a Dream’ that there is still some way to go.

In the last analysis, King’s speech is a rhetorically clever and emotionally powerful call to use non-violent protest to oppose racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination, but also to ensure that all Americans are lifted out of poverty and degradation.

But most of all, King emphasises the collective endeavour that is necessary to bring about the world he wants his children to live in: the togetherness, the linking of hands, which is essential to make the dream a reality.

Discover more from Interesting Literature

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

Type your email…

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

“I Have A Dream”: Annotated

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.

For this month’s Annotations, we’ve taken Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I Have A Dream” speech, and provided scholarly analysis of its groundings and inspirations—the speech’s religious, political, historical and cultural underpinnings are wide-ranging and have been read as jeremiad, call to action, and literature. While the speech itself has been used (and sometimes misused) to call for a “color-blind” country, its power is only increased by knowing its rhetorical and intellectual antecedents.      

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation . This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now . This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred .

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream .

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted , every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood . With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

Weekly Newsletter

Get your fix of JSTOR Daily’s best stories in your inbox each Thursday.

Privacy Policy   Contact Us You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link on any marketing message.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

For dynamic annotations of this speech and other iconic works, see The Understanding Series from JSTOR Labs .

Support JSTOR Daily! Join our new membership program on Patreon today.

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. JSTOR Daily readers can access the original research behind our articles for free on JSTOR.

Get Our Newsletter

More stories.

• The Long History of Live Animal Export

• Haunted Soldiers in Mesopotamia

• The Post Office and Privacy

The British Empire’s Bid to Stamp Out “Chinese Slavery”

Recent posts.

• Wasp Viruses, Athleisure, and Humans in Flight
• Debt-Trap Diplomacy

Support JSTOR Daily

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech

I have a dream: essay introduction, martin luther king’s speech: essay conclusion, reference list.

One of the finest explanations of American’s dream is the powerful speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. He delivered the speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, in Washington D.C. The speech is mainly centered on racial equality and stoppage of discrimination.

At that time, racial segregation ruled in almost all places: be it schools, neighborhoods and even in social places. With violence and riots so often, it was a disturbing moment for America although the U.S government was doing nothing to change the situation. Through the speech, Dr. King was educating inspiring and informing both the civil supporters and the unborn generation in the world to reach out to their dreams and giving his audience hope for a better future.

Up to the time when he was delivering the speech, African Americans were still under slavery from the white people as indicated in the below excerpt.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination…….One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land (Luther, 1963, para. 2).

The speech depicts the idea that someone can actually be anything that he dreams of becoming. Dr. King suggested that America is a land full of opportunities and that Americans should maximize on them. Before transforming the world, he saw the need to begin in America. Dr. King began the speech with a rhetoric phrase, ’Now is the time’, a tool that he used throughout speech. In the sixth paragraph of his speech, he used the phrase six times.

He was echoing to his audience to get hold of the moment. More so he used the phrase, ‘I have a dream eight times. By so doing he was echoing future hope for the people that will make them forget about all the slavery sufferings and injustices that they had faced while under slavery.

This is a sign of hope for the future too. He brought in the idea of slavery to suggest that it is still operational in today’s world. By using the word ‘slave-owners’, Dr. King was referring to the white, however to calm any tension between the black and the white people, he re-unites them by saying, “… will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood” (Luther, 1963, para.12).

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners ………, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice…. I have a dream today (Luther, 1963, para.12).

The dream in the above context symbolizes the aspirations that Dr. King had of America setting the stage for the rest of the world. He also says that ‘this nation will rise up’ meaning that he had fathomed a revolution time when the Americans will be accepted as right persons in the States (Luther, 1963, para.12).

There was an established racial discrimination that is why he sent such a strong message to the white. More importantly is the fact that his words were advocating for peace hence providing the vision that anyone would buy it. There above discussion hence shows that Martin Luther King, Jr was really, an effective public speaker.

Luther, M. (1963). I have a dream. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, February 7). Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech. https://ivypanda.com/essays/martin-luther-kings-speech-i-have-a-dream/

"Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech." IvyPanda , 7 Feb. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/martin-luther-kings-speech-i-have-a-dream/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech'. 7 February.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/martin-luther-kings-speech-i-have-a-dream/.

1. IvyPanda . "Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/martin-luther-kings-speech-i-have-a-dream/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech." February 7, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/martin-luther-kings-speech-i-have-a-dream/.

• Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Critique
• Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
• Leadership Lessons From Martin Luther King Jr.
• Skeptical and Layman Competence
• Speech Analysis: Ronald Reagan vs. Barack Obama
• The Psychology of Images
• Dogs Playing Poker
• The Art of Conversation: Rhetorical Devices

• My Storyboards

Ethos, Pathos, Logos in I Have a Dream

In this activity, activity overview, template and class instructions, more storyboard that activities.

• This Activity is Part of Many Teacher Guides

The ELA Common Core Standards, in high school, require students to improve their formal writing abilities by producing well-thought-out essays and arguments that are appropriately structured. They also need students to employ effective argumentative writing methods for them to defend a position or perspective.

The ability to deconstruct and validate, or debunk, opposing viewpoints is essential for strong persuasive writing. This necessitates a basic understanding of rhetoric. Teaching the Aristotelian concepts of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos as ways to enhance students' comprehension of good arguments is a fantastic approach to cultivating their understanding of effective arguments. Students may then assess the efficacy of these methods in a piece of writing, speech, or letter.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" is one of the most famous quoted speeches in history. In it, King uses rhetoric to appeal to his audience's emotions, values, and logic. By doing so, he is able to make a powerful argument for civil rights. So with that, it is worth exploring the ethos (expertise), pathos (emotional appeal), and logos (logic) of the speech to break it down into some core elements.

The speech was delivered on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. during the march on Washington for jobs and freedom. Centering around the dreams that King had, having grown up during segregated times of black and white folk. The speech text included repetition of the line "I Have a Dream..." such as:

“I Have a Dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

“I Have a Dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

To truly understand the impact of this speech, we first need to understand the meanings behind ethos (expertise), pathos (emotional appeal), and logos (logic).

Ethos is the credibility of the speaker. To establish ethos, a speaker must be seen as an expert in the topic at hand or be someone who is trusted by the audience. King was both an expert on civil rights and someone who was highly respected by the African American community. This gave his speech a great deal of authority and made it more persuasive.

Examples of Ethos in “I Have a Dream” Speech

Pathos is the use of emotions to persuade an audience. King does an excellent job of using pathos to appeal to his audience's emotions. For example, he talks about the dreams that he has for his children and how he wants them to be judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. This is a powerful message that speaks to people's hearts and motivates them to act.

Examples of Pathos in “I Have a Dream” Speech

“Five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope it millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later the Negro still is not free.”

Logos is the use of logic and reason to persuade an audience. King uses logos throughout his speech by providing evidence and reasoning for why civil rights are important. He also uses analogy and metaphor to help illustrate his points. For instance, he compares Blacks to "a nation of sheep" being led astray by a "jackass" (the White establishment). This comparison helps to paint a picture in the minds of his listeners and makes his argument more understandable.

Examples of Logos in “I Have a Dream” Speech

“The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”

You can use the I Have a Dream writing template during class to get students to think about the different elements of King's speech from a literary perspective . The template has sections for all three components discussed; Ethos, Pathos & Logos. This template may also be used as a guide for students to write their own speeches.

Each section assists students in the I Have a Dream speech rhetorical analysis by allowing them to type in a quote that belongs to each section of the template. Students can then use these I Have a Dream ethos, pathos, and logos sections to illustrate each example quote with characters, scenes, and emotions.

Take logos for example. The logos of the speech are the reasoning and examples that Dr. King uses to back up his argument. These logos quotes can be from famous cases, statistics, or even history. Here are some examples of logos in I Have a Dream speech:

“America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds'.”

“We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is a victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.”

Martin Luther King uses ethos in his speech by discussing his credentials as a Baptist minister and civil rights leader. He also talks about his experience with discrimination and how he has seen the effects of segregation firsthand. By sharing his personal experiences, he establishes himself as a credible source on the topic of civil rights.

In addition to discussing his own experiences, King also cites other sources to support his argument. He talks about the Founding Fathers and how they “were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.” He as well references the Emancipation Proclamation and how it was a “great beacon light of hope” for African Americans.

Martin Luther King uses pathos in his speech by sharing the experiences of African Americans who have faced discrimination and segregation. He talks about how African Americans have been “seared in the flames of withering injustice” and how they are still not free even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. By sharing these powerful stories, he elicits an emotional response from his audience and strengthens his argument for civil rights.

King also uses analogy and metaphor to help illustrate his points. For instance, his comparison of African Americans to “a nation of sheep” and the white establishment to “jackass”. This comparison helps to paint a vivid picture of the situation and makes his argument more relatable to his audience.

Martin Luther King uses logos in his speech by citing statistics and historical events to support his argument. He talks about how African Americans have been discriminated against in housing, education, and employment. He also references the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to show how all men are supposed to be treated equally. By using these facts and figures, he demonstrates that segregation is unjust and must be abolished.

King also uses persuasive language throughout his speech. For example, he talks about how African Americans “have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check” that was written by the Founding Fathers. This analogy helps his audience understand that civil rights are not just a Black issue, but an American issue. It is something that everyone should be concerned about and working to fix.

Overall the activity resource teaches the children about ethos, pathos, and logos. It is a good way to introduce the topic and allow the children to explore it in more depth.

When looking at how Martin Luther King uses rhetoric, we can see that he employs all three of Aristotle's modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. He establishes his credibility as a leader early on in the speech, by talking about his experience with discrimination and sharing his credentials as a Baptist minister. Throughout the speech, he uses emotional language to connect with his audience and paint a picture of the struggles that African Americans face. He also uses logic and reasoning to back up his argument, by citing statistics and historical events.

The way he uses the three cornerstones of making a speech impactful will teach the children the importance of rhetoric in public speaking. They can then use literary devices in the “I Have a Dream” speech, get creative, and start to build up their own scenes, with characters to bring to life the quotes from each section that they have chosen. This will allow them to demonstrate to the high school ELA Common Core Standards that your teaching methods and school are providing the children with the learning resources to develop the ability to find, read, and comprehend complex informational texts.

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Student Instructions

Create a storyboard that shows examples of ethos, pathos, and logos from the text.

• Identify one example of each rhetorical strategy: ethos, pathos, and logos.
• Type the example into the description box under the cell.
• Illustrate the example using any combination of scenes, characters, and items.

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 9-12

Difficulty Level 2 (Reinforcing / Developing)

Type of Assignment Individual

Type of Activity: The Rhetorical Triangle: Ethos, Pathos, Logos

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric .)

How to Use Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in Creative Writing Assignments

Introducing ethos, pathos, and logos.

Start the lesson by explaining ethos, pathos, and logos. These are persuasive techniques used to convince an audience and are crucial in effective communication and writing. Use simple, relatable examples to describe each: ethos as establishing credibility or trust, pathos as appealing to emotions, and logos as using logic or reason. Reference "I Have a Dream" to show how Martin Luther King Jr. effectively used these techniques.

Analyzing Examples from "I Have a Dream"

After the introduction, move on to analyzing specific parts of "I Have a Dream" where King employs ethos, pathos, and logos. Break down the speech into sections and work with students to identify which technique is being used in each section. Discuss how each technique serves the overall purpose of the speech and enhances its persuasive power. This exercise not only reinforces their understanding of the concepts but also illustrates how these techniques can be effectively combined.

Writing Exercise Using Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Now that students have a solid understanding of ethos, pathos, and logos, and have seen them in action, challenge them to write their own short essays, speeches, or letters employing these techniques. Provide a template or outline to help them structure their writing. Encourage them to think about an issue or topic they are passionate about, as this will naturally lend itself to the persuasive style of writing.

Peer Review and Reflective Discussion

Conclude the lesson with a peer review session. Students exchange their writings with each other for review. Encourage them to provide feedback specifically on the use and effectiveness of ethos, pathos, and logos in the piece. Finally, bring the class together for a reflective discussion. Ask students to share their experiences of writing with these techniques and how their perspective on persuasive writing has changed.

Frequently Asked Questions about Ethos, Pathos, Logos in "I Have a Dream"

What are ethos, pathos, and logos.

Ethos is a style of writing that appeals to the reader’s authority, thus building trust. Pathos appeals to the emotions of the reader, and logos appeals to the reader’s ability to reason. All of these are ways of writing that make the reader trust, believe, and feel for what the author is saying.

What is Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech about?

Dr. King’s speech had two main goals: to end racism, and to call attention to equal civil and economic rights for all people.

When did Martin Luther King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech?

Dr. King delivered this famous speech on August 28, 1963 at the March on Washington in Washington, D.C.

I Have a Dream

• Freedom • Clearly Ambiguous • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
• THE DREAM • jrr_wired • License Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

Try 1 Month For

30 Day Money Back Guarantee New Customers Only Full Price After Introductory Offer

Learn more about our Department, School, and District packages

• Thousands of images
• Custom layouts, scenes, characters
• And so much more!!

Create a Storyboard

• Special Issues
• Conferences
• Turkish Journal of Analysis and Number Theory Home
• Current Issue
• Browse Articles
• Editorial Board
• Abstracting and Indexing
• Aims and Scope
• Journal of Linguistics and Literature Home
• Social Science
• Medicine & Healthcare
• Earth & Environmental
• Agriculture & Food Sciences
• Business, Management & Economics
• Biomedical & Life Science
• Mathematics & Physics
• Engineering & Technology
• Materials Science & Metallurgy
• Quick Submission
• Apply for Editorial Position
• Propose a special issue
• Launch a new journal
• Authors & Referees
• Advertisers
• Open Access

• Full-Text PDF
• Full-Text HTML
• Full-Text Epub
• Full-Text XML
• Ibtesam AbdulAziz Bajri, Layla Mohammad Mariesel. Discourse Analysis on Martin Luther King’s Speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Journal of Linguistics and Literature . Vol. 4, No. 1, 2020, pp 40-44. https://pubs.sciepub.com/jll/4/1/4 ">Normal Style
• Bajri, Ibtesam AbdulAziz, and Layla Mohammad Mariesel. 'Discourse Analysis on Martin Luther King’s Speech ‘I Have a Dream’.' Journal of Linguistics and Literature 4.1 (2020): 40-44. ">MLA Style
• Bajri, I. A. , & Mariesel, L. M. (2020). Discourse Analysis on Martin Luther King’s Speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Journal of Linguistics and Literature , 4 (1), 40-44. ">APA Style
• Bajri, Ibtesam AbdulAziz, and Layla Mohammad Mariesel. 'Discourse Analysis on Martin Luther King’s Speech ‘I Have a Dream’.' Journal of Linguistics and Literature 4, no. 1 (2020): 40-44. ">Chicago Style

Discourse Analysis on Martin Luther King’s Speech ‘I Have a Dream’

This paper aims to examine Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” using Gee’s [1] building tasks. To specify, the paper will highlight King’s use of language to build and destroy identity, relationship, and politics. Furthermore, analysis shows the ideologies and philosophical dogmas behind the speech, which relates to freedom, equality, and civil rights.

1. Introduction

August 28, 1963, has been a remarkable day for civil rights movement, wherein Martin Luther King has given the most powerful and influential speech entitled “I have a dream”. The premise of the speech is an invitation to peaceful coexistence between the African Americans and the white citizens of America, along with a plea that both parties accept the forthcoming change in a non-violent way.

Jorgensen and Phillips 2 define discourse as the structured language, and define discourse analysis as the analysis of the patterns followed by people in daily utterances in different social life domains (12).

The phenomenal nature of the speech has led to a few attempts at analyzing it, and according to Gee 1 , there are seven building tasks that can help us decode any discourse at hand. The building tasks are as follows: significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. Moreover, Jorgensen and Phillips 2 highlight the importance of discursive practices and state that they “are viewed as an important form of social practice which contributes to the constitution of the social world including social identities and social relations” (61). With that in mind, and with Gee 1 view on effects of texts “inculcating and sustaining ideologies" (123), it is important not only analyze, but rather critique this speech as it has invoked many identities and ideologies in King's audience.

This paper aims to further investigate King’s speech and interpret it using the aforementioned building tasks techniques. More specifically, this paper will use identities, relationships, and politics to analyze and critique this discourse.

2. Significance of the Study

Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” has been analyzed repeatedly. However, building tasks of discourse analysis have not been applied to said speech. Moreover, Sipra and Rashid 3 analyze King’s speech using critical discourse analysis highlighting the social, cultural, and political factors surrounding the speech. However, they use critical discourse analysis on the first part of the speech and recommends further analysis on the rest of it.

Dlugan 4 suggests that a lengthy study is in order of Martin Luther King’s speech after he analyzes it metaphorically. The analysis of the metaphor is quite important to understand the nature of the speech as well as the nature of the speaker. However, the analysis of the metaphors is not as profound as the building tasks in understanding the ideologies and agenda behind the speech.

Damak 5 in his study on the strategic purpose of belonging in King’s speech, suggests that King selects a strategy of identification that rests on cultural conformity. However, Damak focuses in his analysis on metaphors and theoretical approaches, which again is not as practical to examine said cultural conformity. This paper will interpret the speech to examine the cultural compliance using the building tasks of Gee 1 , particularly identity and relationship.

It is evident that understanding the speech needs a thorough look at the historical background of it, which is outside the scope of this paper. However, several historic and social factors will be mentioned in the analysis below using Morris’s 6 book; Origins of the Civil Rights Movement. With that in mind, this paper focuses on the following building tasks; identity, relationship, and politics.

3. Research Objectives

1- This paper aims to study and apply building tasks on Martin Luther King’s speech and analyze it accordingly.

2- This paper will attempt to highlight the social factors that constituted King’s speech, and what social influence does the speech have on the African-American community.

3- Relevantly, this study is carried out to inspect the construction of King’s speech, and the linguistic value it has, by using critical discourse analysis.

This leads to the research questions this paper attempts to answer, which are as follows:

1- What relation does this discourse have to the building task of identity?

2- What relation does this discourse have to the building task of politics?

3- What relation does this discourse have to the building task of relationships?

4- What effect does this discourse carry on the identity and ideology of Americans?

4. Review of Literature

1. Critical Discourse Analysis and Gee’s Building Tasks

Fairclough 7 , suggests that critical discourse analysis has three basic characteristics, one of them is the rationality of it. He states that it is a rational form of research because it focuses primarily on social relations as well as entities and individuals. Furthermore, Fairclough carries on to mention the complexity of social relations and how it is layered due to the fact that they have relations within relations. These relations are a major part of the analysis of King's speech. Additionally, in their book Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method , Jorgensen and Phillips 2 co-wrote a chapter on critical discourse analysis. Drawing on Fairclough and Wodak’s 8 overview, the writers list the five common features of different approaches to critical discourse analysis. The feature we are about to examine in this paper is the feature that links social and cultural construction to linguistic-discursive. Critical Discourse Analysis as a theory is where Gee’s 1 building tasks is elicited from. Gee 1 suggests that language-in-use means saying, doing and being (30). Moreover, it is used along with non-verbal tools to build one of seven areas of reality, which Gee 1 , calls the seven building tasks. Those building tasks include; significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. Therefore, any analyst can use these seven tools to analyze any discourse at hand.

2. Previous Studies

Damak 5 , conducts a study in on the strategic purpose of belonging in Martin Luther King’s speech, in which he suggests that King selects a strategy of identification that rests on cultural conformity. Damak justifies the need to live in harmony with fellow white-citizens of America, but insists that the issue of belonging will only be solved in favor of the dominant majority group. Equally as important is Sipra and Rashid’s 3 work, in which the analyze King’s speech using critical discourse analysis stressing the social, cultural, and political features of the speech. However, they use critical discourse analysis on the first part of the speech and recommend further analysis on the rest of it. From a different angle, Dlugan 4 analyzes King’s speech in terms of metaphors. He notes that King mentions Mississippi four times during his speech, and suggests that it is not accidental. Dlugan states that “mentioning Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience” (7). Such analysis highlights the ideology and paradigm behind King Speech, which this paper aims to examine more closely.

Bajri and Othman 9 , conduct critical discourse analysis on Martin Luther King’s speech ‘I have a dream’, and compare it to Malcom X’s speech ‘a message to the grassroots’. Bajri and Othman examine the use of lexical items in both speeches, the use of metaphors, and rhetorical devices. They utilize Fairclough’s 3D model to analyze the speeches and come to the conclusion that the influential power of these speeches lies in the strong language used in both. Additionally, they highlight the role of these powerful rhetoric in persuading the audiences as well as the government of the United States.

Another paper by Bajri and Mariesel 10 follows the same method of critical discourse analysis is recently published. The authors highlight the importance of language use in political discourse. They analyze Gamal Abdel Nasser’s 1967 stepping down speech, and conclude that the lexical choices in the speech facilitate his agenda in addition to the rhetorical devices and metaphors. Along with his charisma, language helps Abdel Nasser endorsing his name further more even after the defeat.

3. Discourse Legitimation

Essentially, any discourse analysis needs to answer the question of legitimation proposed by van Leeuwen 11 , in which he asks “Why should we do this in this particular way”. Before answering this question in reference to the current paper, it is important to look into the four categories of legitimation mentioned by van Leeuwen 11 . The first one is Authorizations, which is legitimation in relation to the authority of custom, law, and tradition. This authorization can be vested in persons representing institutions such as policemen or religious men. The second category of legitimation is the value system of a certain society, or what van Leeuwen 11 calls moral evaluation. Third, rationalization, which is legitimation in relation to the social practices that exist in a society. Mythopoesis is the last category, which are the narratives that reward legitimate actions and punishes non-legitimate actions. To answer the previously posited question “why”, this paper investigates King’s speech because of its historic and social importance, and for the impact it had done. To answer “why in this particular way”, it is the seven building tasks of Gee 1 that will give us a precise detailed look into King’s identity in the speech, the identities and relationships in the society that received the speech, and the politics of that time that needed to be built or destroyed by King.

To take a closer and more social look into the speech, the current paper refers to Morris’ 6 work which gives a detailed description of the civil rights movements, in which he mentions the approaches used by Martin Luther King to protest. Morris talks about the effectiveness of King’s ways and his credibility as a former protester. He praises the civil rights movement for its cruciality in the sense that it is the first time that African Americans directly have confronted and disrupted the functions of the institutions responsible for their oppression (5). King mentions these institutions in his speech and talks about police brutality specifically, which will be further discussed in the analysis.

5. Method of Analysis

In the broader sense, this paper utilizes Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze the speech. A more specified scope is Gee’s 1 Seven Building Tasks, which include: significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. The paper, however, focuses on identities, relationships, and politics. The reason behind choosing these three tasks is that they reflect the importance of the speech at that particular period of time. Combined together, these three tasks give a richer view of the society and its functions through Martin Luther King’s eyes. They also give an indication of King’s strong persona and leadership skills.

Gee 1 introduces identities as the ability to build roles into the discourse and to be recognized for these roles. The analysis discusses the identities built by King with an attempt to justify the need for these roles in the speech. In terms of the task “relationships”, it looks into the connections between different social or individual classes. Last but not least, politics as defined by Gee 1 is the “social goods” that exist in a society. In this particular task, we use language to build and destroy privileges. In the speech, the discrimination against African-Americans is highlighted in contrast with white privilege.

Data will be obtained from an online source containing the full speech of Martin Luther King. However, only certain parts of the speech will be selected for analysis.

The analysis will be divided into three categories in accordance with Gee’s 1 building tasks; i.e. identities, politics, and relationships. To follow up, selected lines and paragraphs from the speech will go under appropriate categories for analysis.

Language enables one to build an identity and get recognized for that identity or role. In his speech, Martin Luther King builds many identities in order to communicate with his audience and reach out to them.

1. “ So we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition ” para. (2).

Notably, King attempts to build himself as a leader or a spiritual leader to the civil rights movement that has been going on for approximately 16 years during the deliverance of King’s speech.

This line comes after many lines of describing the negros’ sufferance and hardship, in which King does not use “we” to belong to the “negros” or the African Americans. Instead, he describes their suffering from afar, and the first time he uses the word “we” is in the line above, where he urges them to march and change this shameful condition. With that in mind, it seems like King acknowledges the fact that he is a negro, yet refuses to submit to the weakness that comes with the word and to the conditions in which they live.

2. “ We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline ” para. (9).

Preserving the identity of sensibility and rationalism is very important for King since he is an advocate for peace and non-violent change. He presents this identity several times in his speech and urges the African Americans to claim it and commit to it.

3. “ I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream ” para. (18).

The identity of the American is a recurring theme in King's speech. Surely, one of the ways in which he can connect with the white citizens of America is to claim the identity of an American himself. As a result, King’s speech is heavily loaded with what Damak 5 calls: the “Americanity” (214). He repeatedly mentions the American dream and the American citizenship, and that could only be a way to reinforce the ideology of belonging for the African Americans, and the ideology of unity for the white man.

4. “ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character ” para. (14).

King presents his audience with an identity of his, i.e. a parent. Surely, with hundreds of thousands attending his speech, many of which are parents. By representing himself and selling this father figure image, people can relate to him and will have a higher capacity of compassion for King and the African American community.

1. “ Those who hope that the negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual ” para. (7).

The relationship that King tries to introduce here is a relationship of dominance and power. It is a clear threat in case anything happens to the civil rights movement, or if the white people in power decide to dismiss this movement as a steam that needs to be blown off.

King does not mean a violent threat precisely, but “rude awakening” here gives us the impression that it could indeed develop into a threatening relationship if the demands of the African Americans are jeopardized.

2. “ In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” para. (9).

King suggests that African Americans should demand their rights with reasonability, and not be dragged into hatred and bitterness with the white man. He seeks to establish a relationship of sensibility between both parties to avoid any violence that could arise.

3. “ The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny ” para. (10).

Another aspect of the relationship between the African Americans and the white citizens of America that King endeavors to establish or indorse is the friendship between the two. King realizes that in their struggle, there are some righteous white men who aspire to achieve justice in America.

The significance of this ethnic alliance lies in the next following lines in King’s speech, in which he mentions that both parties know that they cannot walk alone in their march for freedom. King realizes that the white men that march with the civil rights movement are some sort of validation to the movement, wherein they represent the majority in America. Indeed, if you can get the majority to validate your cause, then it is not just a dream anymore.

4. “ There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?'' We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality ” para. (11).

King highlights the hostile relationship between the African Americans and the police. This animosity is not restricted to the police though, rather to all state devices. He mentions in the following lines that even airports and public schools have these policies of segregation. By listing all the instances in which a black man can be subjected to racism and segregation, King achieves his goal to destroy this relationship by shaming it.

5. “ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brother­ hood ” para. (16).

It is equally important to connect to the African Americans, as well as to the white citizens of America. This line builds a relationship of friendship and brotherhood between the African Americans and the whites. It is also important for King that both parties remember who they were, and that the African Americans embrace their history. He tries to enable the whole community to access the image of slaves and slave owners, as long as this image will encourage them to build friendships and brotherhoods with those of the other race.

1. “ This note was a promise that all men-yes, black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ” para. (3).

Gee 1 states that “we use language to build and destroy social goods” (31), and that is exactly what King aspires to achieve with this speech. Clearly, the white citizens of America at that time have had privilege or what we can call social goods, in contrast to the African American community who has been suffering from discrimination even after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. On another note, King refers indeed to the proclamation several times and intends to stand before Lincoln's statue to further endorse his speech.

Moreover, King tries to resolve existing segregation and discrimination that has been there prior to his time as well as during, by building the social goods for the African Americans and destroying the privilege that the white citizens have over their fellow black citizens.

It is important to note that the ideology of freedom and equality to all is deeply rooted in the idea of "America", but whether it is actually applied or not is another issue. This ideology helps King to reach out to all Americans, even those who do not stand in his audience during this speech. He presents this social good and expects them to follow through and actually grants it to every American, no matter what his race might be.

2. “ We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only" ” para. (13).

Even the children of the African Americans are subjected to the disgusting segregation and prejudice of the whites, to the point where even in schools black kids are taught that they are less by the signs that state “For Whites Only”. This is an issue that King attempts to destroy with his speech. The privilege that those white kids have over their fellow black mates is a social good that King tries to invoke in order to create a social good that fits and satisfies all, that is equality.

3. “ And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last! ” para. (24).

A spectacular way to conclude a speech full of imagery. King presents the ultimate social good that he wants to achieve for every American, i.e. freedom. With his words, King recognizes the struggle of every American and does not exclude anyone. The inclusivity of this paragraph can reach out to all races, religions, and classes. This shared struggle is what makes it easier for the other races and classes to relate to African Americans.

King builds an image of unity amongst the American community and urges all to march in defense of their freedom. He wants to present them with the ultimate social good and the basic human right that is freedom. Naturally, when this privilege is given to all, and when it is truly guaranteed for every citizen, the destruction of segregation and discrimination will shortly follow.

This ideology that King presents to the Americans is essential to the civil rights movement, in which he offers an ideology of unity and freedom as a vital condition to coexist in peace.

6. Conclusion

It is found in the analysis that Martin Luther King’s speech is constructed carefully and not just haphazardly, which agrees with Spira and Rashid’s 3 suggestion that it has been syntactically structured to serve King’s ideologies and purpose.

King builds several identities for himself, a leader, a rational, a parent, and an American, to name a few. The interesting thing about King, in particular, is that he is an honest man in the sense that when he advocates for peace, he does indeed what he says; he urges his people as well as the other party not to be violent or hateful.

In terms of relationships, Spira and Rashid 3 states that “Luther king very impressively and successfully with the help of metaphors and other devices identifies the relationship between the powerful and oppressed” (32), and this is what we conclude from the analysis. We find King capable of building unity and harmony between the Americans by using his words. He builds a relationship of dominance and power between the African Americans and the state devices in case they take their movement for granted. Furthermore, King seeks to establish a relationship of brotherhood and friendship amongst the African Americans and the white citizens of America. Last but not least, King attempts to highlight the relationship between the African Americans and the brutal police in order to speak for the struggles of the black man and destroy this brutal relationship to build a peaceful one instead.

King plays a decent game with politics in his concluding paragraph, in which he includes every spectrum of society and mentions all races, religions, and classes. Destroying every aspect of prejudice and intolerance in the American society, King provides them with social goods that fits all to fill the gap. He tries to present them a new ideology of America, a country where everyone is free, safe, and dignified.

Martin Luther King’s speech is an attempt to push the American society into instant peaceful change, and whether it succeeds or not is a different issue. Moreover, King’s speech is linguistically rich, and the limitation of this paper is that it does not exceed building tasks or critical discourse analysis. It is recommended that a further study is conducted on the speech using all the building tasks of discourse analysis, as well as a study to decode the speech into its basic ideologies and concepts.

Published with license by Science and Education Publishing, Copyright © 2020 Ibtesam AbdulAziz Bajri and Layla Mohammad Mariesel

Cite this article:

Normal style, chicago style.

• Google-plus

• Work in Progress
• Civic Issues

Rhetorical Analysis on “I Have A Dream” (Draft)

EDIT: I HAVE COMPLETELY CHANGED THE TOPIC OF MY ESSAY, SO THIS ROUGH DRAFT IS COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO MY FINAL DRAFT.

“I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King Junior is a widely known speech that demonstrates the power of rhetoric and the effect it can have on the audience. This speech was written and presented by Martin Luther King Jr. in the year 1963. He uses symbolism, metaphorical imagery, and powerful diction to create an impact on the audience. These rhetorical strategies demonstrate ethos, pathos, and logos to help the audience understand Martin Luther King Jr’s message and purpose.

This speech opens up with a very strong use of diction that creates a logical and emotional appeal on the audience. The main target of this speech is toward the African – American’s living in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. opens up his speech stating that he is grateful for everyone who attended “the greatest demonstration of freedom”. At this point this speech is already creating an appeal of pathos. He then goes on to create a very logical appeal when stating that the Emancipation Proclamation gave “hope to millions of Negro slaves who had seared in the flames of withering injustice”. The Emancipation Proclamation was the first event where African – American’s were increasing up the ladder of social hierarchy. Dr King uses anaphora, the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive clauses, to create an appeal of emotion and logic. He describes that it has been one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation but still “the life of the Negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination”, “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” , “the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land”. Martin Luther King Jr repeats the words “One hundred years later the Negro…” targeting the audience who is mostly comprised of African – Americans that they are still under oppression and that must change,

Dr. King uses many instances of symbolism and metaphorical speech to help explain to the audience that there must be equality for all races. A very clear instance of symbolism and metaphorical speech Dr King demonstrates is occurs in the second paragraph. Dr King is comparing the “sacred obligation” that America has given to the African – Americans during that time as a “bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.  He is stating that America has given promises to the African – Americans however, those promises are empty.

There are countless instances of symbolism that occur throughout this speech and he is attempting to really connect with the audience and demonstrate an appeal of emotion and logic. He is stating that America has given all these opportunities and chances yet Dr King believes all of those opportunities are empty, they are just words. In response Dr. King states to his audience that he refuses “to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt”, and again he uses anaphora stating that he refuses to believe “there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation”. As stated before these “insufficient funds” are empty promises that the United State of America has given to the African – Americans. Everywhere we turn to in the speech, there is a demonstration of some sort of call to action, telling the audience to rise up and demonstrate their freedom. Martin Luther King tells the audience that it is time to make “real the promise of democracy” and “it is time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice”. This statement is teeming with emotional appeal, telling the audience that the time is over to stay in the shadows of segregation, and Dr King creates this emotional appeal with a very repetitive statement to stand up and represent the African – Americans and the idea of racial equality.

Overall throughout this piece it is easy to recognize the style of diction that Martin Luther King uses to demonstrate his point of view on the subject matter. The diction is one that calls for justice and it constantly repeats itself. The most repeated word throughout the speech is the word “justice”. This word is accompanied by the request for justice and that too is constantly repeated throughout the text. However the most significant moment in this speech occurs in the closure. It occurs at a time when Martin Luther King demonstrates “his dream”. He uses anaphora combined with powerful diction to create his final emotional appeal. He asks for America to follow up on its promises to become true to its words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”

This speech had the power to move millions of people and to get them to fight for their freedom. Martin Luther King Jr achieved this with this one speech. This speech demonstrates the diction, symbolism, and metaphorical language needed to create a emotional, logical, and credible appeal that helped the nation jump on its feet and make the better of it. During a time where segregation was everywhere and the racial minorities felt like they had no freedom, Martin Luther King Jr. steeped in and helped save their freedom and individualism through this speech.

One Response to Rhetorical Analysis on “I Have A Dream” (Draft)

Pingback: Tips/Strategies for Rhetorical Analysis | Mr. Nittle

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

• Search for:
• January 2014
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013

Where is the thesis statement in Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech?

1 expert answer.

Raven H. answered • 09/09/16

Professional Educator and Owner of her Own Tutoring Business

Still looking for help? Get the right answer, fast.

Get a free answer to a quick problem. Most questions answered within 4 hours.

Choose an expert and meet online. No packages or subscriptions, pay only for the time you need.

RELATED TOPICS

Related questions, why is to kill a mockingbird so influential.

Answers · 16

Should I read the Hunger Games?

Answers · 22

Is Ender's Game worth reading?

Answers · 5

Is the Great Gatsby still relevant?

Answers · 18

During “Leiningen Versus the Ants,” Leiningen’s attitude toward the ants changes from

Answers · 1

RECOMMENDED TUTORS

find an online tutor

• Reading tutors
• Writing tutors
• SAT Reading tutors
• Speed Reading tutors
• SAT Writing tutors
• Dissertation Writing tutors
• Vocabulary tutors
• Language Arts tutors

related lessons

• Need help with something else? Try one of our lessons.
• Need help with something else? Try searching for a tutor.

• Free essays

We use cookies to make your user experience better.

By staying on our website, you fully accept it. Read more » It's OK

Martin Luther King’s Speech

King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington on the 28th of August, 1963. King and his Movement were continually stalled in their intentions to hold peaceful civil rights demonstrations and rallies by the authorities. However, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom received approval from the authorities and the affair was expected to have a high attendance rate. In addition, it was widely publicized and the speeches at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial were aired on TV. As a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, King was known and recognized; he often gave speeches at civil rights demonstrations, conferences, and sermons at black churches; he even used the now famous refrain “I have a dream” more than once in his oratories. However, King had never before had such a wide and versatile audience (Young, 2013, para. 3).

King and the Civil Rights Movement advocated the philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience and the inability to force their viewpoint with brutality, which was viewed by some as weakness. The year of King’s address in Washington was before the major civil rights breakthroughs happened. The Civil Rights Act that abolished racial discrimination in voting rights, housing, education and workplaces was signed only a year later, in 1964. Therefore, some supporters of the Civil Rights Movement felt discouraged and frustrated that their morally correct actions did not bring the long-awaited fruits. However, even more important than to inspire his supporters, King’s purpose was to explain to the white folks what was going on in the country. In 1963, the civil rights movement was in its full swing, and there was a large part of the white population who saw social turbulence in society but did not fully comprehend the reason for it. King’s speech enlightened them. Therefore, King’s task was to construct his speech and choose the right words in such a way so as to persuade both sides of his auditory.

Get a price quote

Save 15% OFF on your 1st order

According to Aristotle, a successful public speaker should focus his/her address on the target audience because the same subject can and should be presented differently for various groups of people. For example, an issue of euthanasia should be introduced in a much different manner to a group of college students than to professional doctors. Thus, a person who wants to deliver a speech that will make an impact should not only carefully pick words to convey the meaning he/she intended to but also keep in mind the audience members. To this effect, the speaker should realize what drives the audience and what makes each individual person tick. As a group of people is not homogeneous and each one has his/her personal characteristics, needs, and beliefs, the speaker should try to appeal to all the people based on their education level, background, age, etc. If the spears understand the audience correctly, the response from it will be as expected (West & Turner, 2010, p. 313).

Apart from targeting the audience, a successful public speech needs to contain a good number of proofs not to be a vague beating around the bush, but strike to the point and support the orator’s claims. However, the speaker should not rely only on logical construction because a large group of people usually has a lower IQ than each person taken separately. It can be said that the crowd has a mind of its own. Therefore, people in a group respond very well to emotional appeals because emotional level is easier to connect to than the intellectual one. In order to engage every important level in the speech, Aristotle singles out three proofs of persuasion such as ethos, pathos, and logos.

Ethos lends credibility to the public speaker. Without it the audience will not believe the speaker and will not respond to his/her ideas at all. However, Richard West and Lynn Turner (2010) note that ethos is what a stable category only; it is changing and interactive: “[A] speaker’s ethos is not simply something that is brought into a speaking experience; it is the speaking experience” (p. 314). It means that if a doctor gives a lecture on euthanasia his initial credibility is high but at the same time ducting his interactions with the audience he/she is able to increase his/her influence. Using the example of Martin Luther King’s speech, we will later see how it works.

Our outstanding writers are mostly educated to MA and PhD level

Upon ensuring credibility, one should engage the audience’s mind and soul. Logos appeals to intellectual’s abilities of the audience members through the logical construction of the argument, additional information such as numbers, statistics, and others. Aristotle also notes that logos includes a well-worded language. The message should be clear to the audience and have little ambiguities. For example, the poetical language is prone to wide interpretations and cannot be considered as a means of persuasion. Meanwhile, pathos covers the audience’s emotional needs by appealing to universal emotions and the subconsciousness (West & Turner, 2010, p. 314). These three Aristotelian means of persuasion are all present in King’s speech at the 1963 March in Washington.

The ethos King evokes during his “I have a dream” speech lends him credibility that he later enhances using his arguments. As a black man and a pastor of a black church, King gives a personal dimension to his speech. In 1963, King was already known nationwide as an activist of the civil rights movement. Thus, the audience feels that King is a credible speaker as he organized and took part in many civil rights events. Therefore, King does not need to prove his credibility and applies logos from the very beginning by referring to the historical events of slavery, abolishment, and the Emancipation Proclamation (King, 1963, para. 2).

King’s logical appeal reminded people about sad conditions African Americans lived in including segregation, discrimination, and the worse financial situation than white had. King’s difficult task was to address the issue of racism both to the victims of it and to the wrongdoers who very often refused to see it as such. For this purpose, King carefully chooses his diction. When referring to the negative attitude towards the civil rights movement he uses negatively colored word such as “tranquilizing drug of gradualism” and powerful contrasts “desolate valley of segregation” versus “sunlit path of racial justice” and “the quicksands of racial injustice” versus “the solid rock of brotherhood” (King, 1963, para. 6). King reminds that their discontent is “legitimate” because the police treats African Americans brutally and segregation in public places is humiliating (King, 1963, para. 7).

King’s logical appeal is largely intensified by his use of pathos. Basing his emotional appeal on the Biblical allusion King complements it by using colorful metaphors and poetic imagery. At the beginning of his speech King refers to the language of the financial world. As a nation of people who value material welfare, King calls the inability of America to provide its citizens with racial equality “bankruptcy” and “insufficient funds” (King, 1963, para. 4). In this metaphorical language the desire of racial minorities to be equal is referred to as “we’ve come to cash this check” and “the riches of freedom and the security of justice” (King, 1963, para. 5). To better demonstrate how different African Americans’ lives are from whites’, King uses parallel structures saying “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality” (King, 1963, para. 9). The powerful imagery is intended to make the audience envision what awaits them in case of indifference and a lassez-faire attitude: “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges” (King, 1963, para. 10).

Any referencing Style

Reputable & up-to-date Sources

We Work Even with Tight Deadlines

By the end of the speech King felt the need to add even more pathos. According to historical research, the ‘I have a dream’ part was not initially advised as a repetitive, “trite” and “clich?” because King used it numerously in his public appeals (Young, 2013, para. 1). However, the day of the March was boiling hot, people grew tired and weary, and probably King felt the need to shake up the audience. This is an example of mutual influence of the speaker and the audience West and Turner (2010) referred to (p. 314). Under these circumstances Kings beefs up his speech with a poetic refrain “I have a dream”. He repeats it several times expanding his thought and explaining what exactly he would like to see in lives of the U.S. citizens of any color. The use of repetitive clauses creates an emotional appeal while different endings of successive clauses make the statements convincing for both types of the audience. As was mentioned earlier, King’s aim was to engage both black and white population. One of the premises of white suprematism was doing right and good. By believing in their inherent goodness Anglo-Saxons justified racial discrimination. By saying “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’” King reminds white people that their tendency to think good about themselves can be, and should be, supported by their deeds. If the nation was established on the premises of equality, that principle should find its implementation in everyday life.

Thus, it is evident that the success of King’s speech was based on his marvelous knowledge of the audience. The careful construct of “I Have a Dream” speech took into consideration both African Americans, who at the moment of the March still suffered from segregation and visible manifestations of racial prejudice, and white population that was not fully aware of the on-going consequences of slavery and racism. Even though the issue of racial inequality already contains pathos as an emotionally charged topic, King enhances his emotional appeal by using Biblical allusions, quotes and metaphorical diction. Each of the Aristotelian means of persuasion – ethos, logos, and pathos – contribute to the way a speech is accepted. Therefore, King’s use of all three made his speech so effective that it has been widely anthologized, studied, and quoted since.

The ‘I have a dream’ speech assisted the Civil Rights Movement to gain a much larger support that it had before. As an event aired on TV live, the speeches at the 1963 March gathered a very large audience. However, it was King’s reliance on rhetoric methodology that brought about his success. Unless he hadn’t been able to convince both auditoria – black and white – in the urgency and importance of equal rights, the speech would have fallen flat. However, the correct use of rhetorical means had such a great impact that King became known among whites as much as he used to be known among the black population. Today, Martin Luther King is still recognized as one of the most influential personalities in the XX century and especially the one who contributed a lot to the civil rights movement.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

AN ANALYSIS OF METAFUNCTION AND CONTEXT OF SITUATION IN MARTIN LUTHER KING'S SPEECH 'I HAVE A DREAM' A THESIS

This Thesis entitled “An Analysis of Metafunction and Context of Situation in Martin Luther King’s Speech “I Have A Dream” is an analysis of Systemic Functional Linguistic that discusses about metafunction and context of situation realized in Martin Luther King’s speech. For analyzing metafunction and related it into context of situation which is realized through register variable is used theories of Halliday (1985), Gerrot and Wignell (1994), and Enggins (2004). Metafunction is analyzed through clauses of Luther King’s speech, then these metafunction components reflects register variable for analyzing context of situation. Ideational function which is realized through transitivity system reflects field, textual function which is realized through theme and rheme reflects mode, while interpersonal function which is realized through mood and residue reflects tenor. Clauses found in Luther King’s speech are 168 clauses. These clauses are analyzed through transitivity, theme and rheme, and mode and residue. The field found in this speech is “the slavery towards negros in America”, the mode is written text, and the tenor used is informal language. Keywords: metafunction, ideational function, textual function, interpersonal function, context of situation, register variable, systemic functional linguistic

RELATED PAPERS

Gelson Silva

Naomi Sheneman

Journal de la société des américanistes

Gilton Mendes dos Santos

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering

António Viana da Fonseca

Geoenvironmental Disasters

Teuku Fathani

실시간카지노 토토사이트

Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Pecuarias

Jose Gregorio Rodriguez Ledezma

Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling

Eric Pellegrini

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Catarina Matias

Ronaldo F S Alves

Antonio Enedi Boaretto

Dinda Aulia

Journal of Animal Ecology

Mark Wilber

seyed mahmoud Mousavi

Universitas Odontologica

Jorge E . Delgado

Evolutionary Bioinformatics

Marc Thuillard

Cell Reports

Howard Fields

International Psychogeriatrics

steven savvas

ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies

lateef akinyemi

Open Journal of Optimization

Ajayi Blessing olayinka

JURNAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

"Give Us the Ballot," Address Delivered at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom

Author:  King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Date:  May 17, 1957

Location:  Washington, D.C.

Genre:  Speech

Topic:  Brown v. Board of Education

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views

Nonviolence

Voter registration

Hoping to prod the federal government to fulfill the promise of the three-year-old  Brown v. Board of Education  decision, national civil rights leaders called for a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 1  Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and Stanley Levison organized the Prayer Pilgrimage, which brought together cochairmen A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and King, along with a host of prominent civil rights supporters including Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Fred Shuttlesworth, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and entertainer Harry Belafonte. 2  Thomas Kilgore of Friendship Baptist Church in New York served as national director of the Pilgrimage. Some twenty thousand people listened to three hours of speeches, music, and testimony from southern activists.

Speaking last, King exhorts the president and members of Congress to ensure voting rights for African Americans and indicts both political parties for betraying the cause of justice: “The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudices and undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of right wing, reactionary northerners. These men so often have a high blood pressure of words and an anemia of deeds.”  3

Although turnout for the Pilgrimage did not reach the organizers’ goal of fifty thousand, the event was well noted in the press, and King’s address in particular received much positive attention. Harold Sims, sent by the U.S. National Student Association to cover the Pilgrimage, described the day: “The air was filled with shouts of ‘amen’ and ‘hallelujah’ as the speakers sounded their voices in defense of civil rights. Handkerchiefs flew above the heads of the crowd as it listened to the fiery orators…. They were jubilant sounds… sounds of disillusioned souls discovering their country.”  4  The following is taken from an audio recording of the event.

Mr. Chairman, distinguished platform associates, fellow Americans. Three years ago the Supreme Court of this nation rendered in simple, eloquent, and unequivocal language a decision which will long be stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations. For all men of goodwill, this May seventeenth decision came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of human captivity. It came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of disinherited people throughout the world who had dared only to dream of freedom.

Unfortunately, this noble and sublime decision has not gone without opposition. This opposition has often risen to ominous proportions. Many states have risen up in open defiance. The legislative halls of the South ring loud with such words as “interposition” and “nullification.”

But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote. [ Audience: ] ( Yes )

Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.

Give us the ballot ( Yes ), and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South ( All right ) and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.

Give us the ballot ( Give us the ballot ), and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs ( Yeah ) into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.

Give us the ballot ( Give us the ballot ), and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill ( All right now ) and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a “Southern Manifesto” because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice.  5 ( Tell ’em about it ) 

Give us the ballot ( Yeah ), and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy ( Yeah ), and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine.

Give us the ballot ( Yes ), and we will quietly and nonviolently, without rancor or bitterness, implement the Supreme Court’s decision of May seventeenth, 1954. ( That’s right )

In this juncture of our nation’s history, there is an urgent need for dedicated and courageous leadership. If we are to solve the problems ahead and make racial justice a reality, this leadership must be fourfold.

First, there is need for strong, aggressive leadership from the federal government. So far, only the judicial branch of the government has evinced this quality of leadership. If the executive and legislative branches of the government were as concerned about the protection of our citizenship rights as the federal courts have been, then the transition from a segregated to an integrated society would be infinitely smoother. But we so often look to Washington in vain for this concern. In the midst of the tragic breakdown of law and order, the executive branch of the government is all too silent and apathetic. In the midst of the desperate need for civil rights legislation, the legislative branch of the government is all too stagnant and hypocritical.

This dearth of positive leadership from the federal government is not confined to one particular political party. Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice. ( Oh yes ) The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudices and undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of right wing, reactionary northerners. These men so often have a high blood pressure of words and an anemia of deeds. [ laughter ]

In the midst of these prevailing conditions, we come to Washington today pleading with the president and members of Congress to provide a strong, moral, and courageous leadership for a situation that cannot permanently be evaded. We come humbly to say to the men in the forefront of our government that the civil rights issue is not an ephemeral, evanescent domestic issue that can be kicked about by reactionary guardians of the status quo; it is rather an eternal moral issue which may well determine the destiny of our nation ( Yeah ) in the ideological struggle with communism. The hour is late. The clock of destiny is ticking out. We must act now, before it is too late.

A second area in which there is need for strong leadership is from the white northern liberals. There is a dire need today for a liberalism which is truly liberal. What we are witnessing today in so many northern communities is a sort of quasi-liberalism which is based on the principle of looking sympathetically at all sides. It is a liberalism so bent on seeing all sides, that it fails to become committed to either side. It is a liberalism that is so objectively analytical that it is not subjectively committed. It is a liberalism which is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. ( All right ) We call for a liberalism from the North which will be thoroughly committed to the ideal of racial justice and will not be deterred by the propaganda and subtle words of those who say: “Slow up for a while; you’re pushing too fast.”

A third source that we must look to for strong leadership is from the moderates of the white South. It is unfortunate that at this time the leadership of the white South stems from the close-minded reactionaries. These persons gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas and by deliberately appealing to the deepest hate responses within the human mind. It is my firm belief that this close-minded, reactionary, recalcitrant group constitutes a numerical minority. There are in the white South more open-minded moderates than appears on the surface. These persons are silent today because of fear of social, political and economic reprisals. God grant that the white moderates of the South will rise up courageously, without fear, and take up the leadership in this tense period of transition.

I cannot close without stressing the urgent need for strong, courageous and intelligent leadership from the Negro community. We need a leadership that is 1957 calm and yet positive. This is no day for the rabble-rouser, whether he be Negro or white. ( All right ) We must realize that we are grappling with the most weighty social problem of this nation, and in grappling with such a complex problem there is no place for misguided emotionalism. ( All right, That’s right ) We must work passionately and unrelentingly for the goal of freedom, but we must be sure that our hands are clean in the struggle. We must never struggle with falsehood, hate, or malice. We must never become bitter. I know how we feel sometime. There is the danger that those of us who have been forced so long to stand amid the tragic midnight of oppression—those of us who have been trampled over, those of us who have been kicked about—there is the danger that we will become bitter. But if we will become bitter and indulge in hate campaigns, the old, the new order which is emerging will be nothing but a duplication of the old order. ( Yeah, That’s all right )

We must meet hate with love. ( Yeah ) We must meet physical force with soul force. There is still a voice crying out through the vista of time, saying: “Love your enemies ( Yeah ), bless them that curse you ( Yes ), pray for them that despitefully use you.” 6  ( That’s right, All right ) Then, and only then, can you matriculate into the university of eternal life. That same voice cries out in terms lifted to cosmic proportions: “He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword.” 7  ( Yeah, Lord ) And history is replete with the bleached bones of nations ( Yeah ) that failed to follow this command. ( All right ) We must follow nonviolence and love. ( Yes, Lord ) 

Now, I’m not talking about a sentimental, shallow kind of love. ( Go ahead ) I’m not talking about  eros , which is a sort of aesthetic, romantic love. I’m not even talking about  philia , which is a sort of intimate affection between personal friends. But I’m talking about  agape . ( Yes sir ) I’m talking about the love of God in the hearts of men. ( Yes ) I’m talking about a type of love which will cause you to love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. ( Go ahead ) We’ve got to love. ( Oh yes )

There is another warning signal. We talk a great deal about our rights, and rightly so. We proudly proclaim that three-fourths of the peoples of the world are colored. We have the privilege of noticing in our generation the great drama of freedom and independence as it unfolds in Asia and Africa. All of these things are in line with the unfolding work of Providence. But we must be sure that we accept them in the right spirit. We must not seek to use our emerging freedom and our growing power to do the same thing to the white minority that has been done to us for so many centuries. ( Yes ) Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man. We must not become victimized with a philosophy of black supremacy. God is not interested merely in freeing black men and brown men and yellow men, but God is interested in freeing the whole human race. ( Yes, All right ) We must work with determination to create a society ( Yes ), not where black men are superior and other men are inferior and vice versa, but a society in which all men will live together as brothers ( Yes ) and respect the dignity and worth of human personality. ( Yes )

We must also avoid the temptation of being victimized with a psychology of victors. We have won marvelous victories. Through the work of the NAACP, we have been able to do some of the most amazing things of this generation. And I come this afternoon with nothing, nothing but praise for this great organization, the work that it has already done and the work that it will do in the future. And although they’re outlawed in Alabama and other states, the fact still remains that this organization has done more to achieve civil rights for Negroes than any other organization we can point to. ( Yeah, Amen ) Certainly, this is fine.

But we must not, however, remain satisfied with a court victory over our white brothers. We must respond to every decision with an understanding of those who have opposed us and with an appreciation of the difficult adjustments that the court orders pose for them. We must act in such a way as to make possible a coming together of white people and colored people on the basis of a real harmony of interest and understanding. We must seek an integration based on mutual respect.

I conclude by saying that each of us must keep faith in the future. Let us not despair. Let us realize that as we struggle for justice and freedom, we have cosmic companionship. This is the long faith of the Hebraic-Christian tradition: that God is not some Aristotelian “unmoved mover” who merely contemplates upon Himself. He is not merely a self-knowing God, but an other-loving God ( Yeah ) forever working through history for the establishment of His kingdom.

And those of us who call the name of Jesus Christ find something of an event in our Christian faith that tells us this. There is something in our faith that says to us, “Never despair; never give up; never feel that the cause of righteousness and justice is doomed.” There is something in our Christian faith, at the center of it, which says to us that Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately it must give way to the triumphant beat of the drums of Easter. ( That’s right ) There is something in our faith that says evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy the palace and Christ the cross (That’s right), but one day that same Christ will rise up and split history into A.D. and B.C. ( Yes ), so that even the name, the life of Caesar must be dated by his name. ( Yes ) There is something in this universe ( Yes, Yes ) which justifies Carlyle in saying: “No lie can live forever.” ( All right ) There is something in this universe which justifies William Cullen Bryant in saying: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” ( Yes, All right ) There is something in this universe ( Watch yourself ) which justifies James Russell Lowell in saying:

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne. (  Oh yeah ) Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown Stands God ( All right ), within the shadow, Keeping watch above His own. 8  ( Yeah, Yes ) 

Go out with that faith today. ( All right, Yes ) Go back to your homes in the Southland to that faith, with that faith today. Go back to Philadelphia, to New York, to 1957 Detroit and Chicago with that faith today ( That’s right ), that the universe is on our side in the struggle. ( Sure is, Yes ) Stand up for justice. ( Yes ) Sometimes it gets hard, but it is always difficult to get out of Egypt, for the Red Sea always stands before you with discouraging dimensions. ( Yes ) And even after you’ve crossed the Red Sea, you have to move through a wilderness with prodigious hilltops of evil ( Yes ) and gigantic mountains of opposition. ( Yes ) But I say to you this afternoon: Keep moving. ( Go on ahead ) Let nothing slow you up. ( Go on ahead ) Move on with dignity and honor and respectability. ( Yes )

I realize that it will cause restless nights sometime. It might cause losing a job; it will cause suffering and sacrifice. ( That’s right ) It might even cause physical death for some. But if physical death is the price that some must pay ( Yes sir ) to free their children from a permanent life of psychological death ( Yes sir ), then nothing can be more Christian. ( Yes sir ) Keep going today. ( Yes sir ) Keep moving amid every obstacle. ( Yes sir ) Keep moving amid every mountain of opposition. ( Yes sir, Yeah ) If you will do that with dignity ( Say it ), when the history books are written in the future, the historians will have to look back and say, “There lived a great people. ( Yes sir, Yes ) A people with ‘fleecy locks and black complexion,’ but a people who injected new meaning into the veins of civilization ( Yes ); a people which stood up with dignity and honor and saved Western civilization in her darkest hour ( Yes ); a people that gave new integrity and a new dimension of love to our civilization.” 9  ( Yeah, Look out ) When that happens, “the morning stars will sing together ( Yes sir ), and the sons of God will shout for joy.’’ 10  ( Yes sir, All right ) [ applause ] ( Yes, That’s wonderful, All right )

1.  King, Roy Wilkins, and A. Philip Randolph, “Call to a Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom,” 5 April 1957; see also Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, and Stanley Levison, Memo regarding Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, February 1957.

2.  Randolph was first to address the crowd. Other speakers included Howard University president Mordecai Johnson and Shuttlesworth, who declared, “the struggle will be hard and costly; some of us indeed may die; but let our trials and death—if come they must—be one more sacred installment [in] this American heritage for freedom.” (Shuttlesworth, Address at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, and Gerda Lerner, “Time for Freedom,” both dated 17 May 1957). See also King’s comments on Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s speech in his 16 July 1957 letter to Ramona Garrett, pp. 235-236 in this volume.

3.  King’s handwritten draft contained several phrases he does not use in this address and closed with two verses from James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as the Negro National Anthem.

4.  Sims, “An American Student Speaks of Civil Rights Affirmation and Pledge of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom,” 17 May 1957. Sims further reported that “the excited crowd surrounded Rev. King as he finished his talk shaking his hand, patting his shoulders…. These were people reborn with the spirit of a new age.” Reporter James Hicks declared that King “emerged from the Prayer Pilgrimage to Washington as the number one leader of sixteen million Negroes in the United States…. At this point in his career the people will follow him anywhere” (“King Emerges as Top Negro Leader,”  New York Amsterdam News,  1 June 1957). In contrast to the generally positive reaction to the Pilgrimage, George Schuyler complained in his 25 May  Pittsburgh Courier  column that the event would have “no influence whatever in the courts of civil rights legislation that a letter or telegram from each of the participants to the White House and the respective Senators and Representatives in Washington would not have had.”

5.  In March 1956, ninety southern congressmen and all but three southern senators signed the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles,” also known as the “Southern Manifesto,” which contended that desegregation was a subversion of the Constitution and pledged that southern politicians would firmly resist integration.

6.  Cf. Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27-28.

7.  Cf. Matthew 26:52.

8.  Thomas Carlyle,  The French Revolution  (1837), part 1, book 3, chapter 1; William Cullen Bryant,  The Battlefield  (1839), stanza 9; and James Russell Lowell,  The Present Crisis  (1844), stanza 8.

9.  Cf. William Cowper, “The Negro’s Complaint” (1788).

10.  Cf. Job 38:7.

Source: MLKJP-GAMK, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers (Series I-IV), Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.

©  Copyright Information

The King's Speech

56 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-16

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The King’s Speech is a 2010 non-fiction book about King George VI and how he was treated for a speech impediment by the Australian Lionel Logue . Their unlikely friendship is credited for saving the British monarchy during a difficult time in world history. The King’s Speech was co-authored by Mark Logue (grandson of Lionel Logue) and Peter Conradi (an accomplished author of historical nonfiction) as an accompaniment to the Oscar-winning 2010 film of the same name. 

Plot Summary

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

• 7,700+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 4,850+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

The book begins in May 1937. King George VI wakes up on the morning of his coronation, already nervous. The British monarchy is facing “one of the greatest crises” (16) in its history following the abdication of Edward VIII. Also in London, an Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue wakes up and begins to travel to the coronation with his wife Myrtle. The King is expected to deliver a speech, and the stammer he has suffered from since childhood has made this a difficult prospect. The streets are packed as the crowds gather to watch the ceremony. The coronation goes well. That evening, Logue travels to Buckingham Palace to help the King prepare for a radio broadcast. The next day, the King’s speech is hailed as a success.

Logue was born in Adelaide in 1880. He develops an interest in elocution and begins to perform speeches onstage for rapt audiences. He meets and marries a woman named Myrtle, and the two have a son together. They travel the world in 1908, leaving their son Laurie at home. They plan to move to Britain but do not do so until 1924. Logue becomes famous in Australia for his skills as a speech therapist. 

The SuperSummary difference

• 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
• Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
• 175 + new titles every month

By the time the Logue family moves to Great Britain, they have three sons. The country is still recovering from World War I and an economic recession. Logue sets up a speech therapy practice. He develops a number of key techniques to treat speech impediments. 

The future King George VI is born in December 1895. His grandmother is Queen Victoria. With his brother, he is raised mostly by nurses and governesses, leading to a distant relationship with his parents. Whereas his brother is charming and fun, he has developed a terrible stammer. Bertie (as he is known) attends naval college and does not excel. His father is eventually proclaimed King. Bertie struggles to give speeches and frequently falls ill. In adulthood, Bertie slowly becomes his father’s favorite while his brother argues with the King and has developed a reputation for socializing. Bertie meets Elizabeth, and they marry, which pleases Bertie’s father, though his stammer remains an issue. Public speaking makes him incredibly nervous. One speech ends in humiliation for Bertie. Logue hears him speak and believes he can help. Bertie has sought medical advice, but it has always failed him. At Elizabeth’s request, Bertie agrees to meet with Logue.

Logue and Bertie meet at Logue’s office. Logue declares that he can cure the stammer but demands that his patient apply a tremendous amount of effort. They meet often, and two well-delivered speeches are seen as evidence of improvement. A royal trip to Australia goes very well, and Bertie is commended for his speech. The lessons continue.

Logue takes Myrtle to the Palace, where they are presented at court. Bertie’s improvement is noted in the press, though Logue declines to answer questions on the matter. The story is eventually published, and Logue is credited for his work, becoming famous. Bertie continues to toil and the beginnings of a real friendship between him and Logue emerge.

The narrative moves into the 1930s. Bertie is becoming more involved in the monarchy while his daughters are becoming world famous. He visits Logue less frequently but remains in touch. The Great Depression affects both men’s families. King George V dies in 1936, precipitating change for both men.

Edward takes the throne as a popular King, but his romantic relationship with twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson is scandalous. When he announces that he wants to marry Wallis, he is told it is not possible. Edward abdicates the throne. Bertie takes the throne as his brother leaves the country. Bertie becomes King George VI. His speech impediment is now an even bigger issue, even if his treatment has been going well.

Logue helps the new King prepare for his coronation. There will be a speech to the crowd and a radio broadcast for the Empire. Rehearsals do not go well, though the Queen is a calming influence. A back-up recording is made from practice speeches in the event that something should go wrong.

Both speeches are a triumph. Logue continues to help the King prepare his speeches. The monarch’s new workload is notably draining. The King delivers a Christmas day speech in the mold of his father, which Logue helps prepare. They spend Christmas day together, and the King gives Logue a present as a means of thanking him. Myrtle returns to Australia, where she is treated like a celebrity. Everyone wants to know about her husband’s work with the King.

As Europe moves closer to the Second World War, the King travels to Europe. He delivers speeches and meets with President Roosevelt. Logue grows closer to the royal family, and when the King returns from America, they chat informally about the trip while preparing for a speech.

The Second World War begins. The Logues’ Bavarian cook returns to Germany. Air raid sirens encourage everyone to move to shelters. The King and Logue prepare a special radio broadcast to reassure people. Rationing is introduced. The Christmas speech becomes a yearly tradition.

The war continues. The King’s hair is beginning to grey as he and Logue prepare a speech for Empire Day. Logue listens to the speech, marveling at the progress the King has made. The King is proud. The Nazis are winning in the war. Logue’s eldest son is conscripted. London is bombed. Logue assists with another Christmas speech. As he listens, he stops following along because he realizes that there is no need.

By 1943, the war has turned in the Allies’ favor. The King visits North Africa. All three Logue boys are now serving in the military. Logue’s business suffers due to the war and the King donates £500 as a means of thanking Logue. They prepare a speech for the eve of D-Day, which is a great success. The war continues, as does the bombing of London. The King delivers the Christmas speech without Logue, and it is a great success.

The Allies win the war. The entire country celebrates. Later, while Logue is undergoing surgery, Myrtle suffers a heart attack. Logue is devastated. Logue continues to work, though he sells the large (and now empty) family house. He is lonely and develops an interest in psychics. The King’s daughter marries, and the King’s health worsens.

The King delivers his final Christmas speech in 1951 and dies in his sleep a short time later. He and Logue corresponded up until his death. Logue recovers from his own illness to write to the Queen, mourning the loss of her husband. Princess Elizabeth is crowned Queen Elizabeth II. Logue dies in 1953 as a result of kidney failure. He does not survive to see Elizabeth’s coronation, though he is invited.

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Featured Collections

British Literature

View Collection

Inspiring Biographies

Rev. King spoke at the Illinois State Armory in 1965, his visit will be commemorated

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. may never have made it to Springfield except for a unique set of events.

King delivered his only Springfield speech to some 4,000 delegates − and apparently a few curious State of Illinois employees − at an AFL-CIO convention at th e Illinois State Armo ry on Oct. 7, 1965.

A bronze plaque will commemorate the visit sometime after a three-year, $122 million renovation on the downtown Armory is completed by mid-2025.

Doss retiring as Lanphier High School principal on Feb. 27

Several events in Springfield pay tribute to King, whose birthday is marked Monday.

King's Springfield speech spoke to the intersection of the labor movement and the fight for civil rights, said State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, who helped champion the memorialization of the speech.

By the time of his appearance, King was a nationally recognized civil rights leader.

But King almost didn't make it to Springfield.

Longtime AFL-CIO president Reuben Soderstrom , who first met King in Florida in 1961, invited him to speak at Illinois’ 1963 convention, said longtime labor journalist and Soderstrom biographer Chris Stevens of Peoria. Instead, King sent friend and mentor Ralph Abernathy.

King was scheduled to speak at the gathering in Peoria in 1964, but he was tending to his ill father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. , and President Lyndon B. Johnson stepped in, Stevens said.

The state convention rotated between cities and Springfield was hosting when King accepted in 1965, Stevens said.

King flew from Atlanta to Chicago and then on to Springfield. Early in the speech, King noted the choppiness of the flight. "I am always happy to get on the ground. I don't want to leave you with the impression that I don't have faith in God in the air. It is simply that I have had more experience with (God) on the ground."

King also acknowledged he was in the city of Abraham Lincoln, "the man whose sacred memory will remain a part of our thoughts as long as there is any memory in this great nation."

Bishop Jacson L. Moody studied King's theology at Morehouse School of Religion but wasn't familiar with the Springfield speech until he moved to town.

Moody, the pastor of the Redemption Center church in Springfield, recreated the speech at the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum in 2018.

Moody said one particular line still resonates with him: King's call for a guaranteed annual wage.

"That's not something people are really thinking about," Moody said. "We don't mind talking about minimum wage as far as hourly, but he called for a guaranteed annual wage. That was unheard of. With that, he was arguing it was a basic human and moral right. That's major."

While King had "no fear of speaking truth to power," Moody said, others, including some clergy members, weren't as intent on hearing his message.

"As beloved as King is now, and history has been kind, in the moment there were people who didn't care for what they determined was his radical thought process," Moody said. "King was on the right side of history and speaking out on those things and sharing that there was a line that correlated the civil rights movement into wage rights and labor rights but also end of the struggle for underpaid workers. It was one straight line for him. There was nothing that was mutually exclusive."

King, Moody said, also incorporated parts of the "I Have a Dream" speech into the Springfield speech and at the end used the familiar "free at last" refrain, "a calling card for King."

Stevens, who has researched King's speech and appearance in Springfield, said he tried to track down an audio recording of the speech to no avail.

While the speech was only open to credentialed delegates, an account by the Illinois State Register (an afternoon paper and a forerunner to The State Journal-Register) said several state workers on their lunch hour took in the speech.

Stevens was told that King may have been targeted here.

Robert G. "Bob" Gibson , the Illinois AFL-CIO community services director at the time, had to hustle King out of the Armory after the speech, said Stevens, because a bomb threat was phoned into the Armory.

Stevens said Gibson, who went on to serve as the state labor union's president, recounted the story in an interview shortly before he died in 2021.

Stevens said Gibson recalled driving King around to various Abraham Lincoln sites in Springfield when the bomb threat was made known.

King didn't return to the Armory, Stevens noted and took a flight out of Springfield the same day.

While the newspaper didn't mention the bomb threat, it did report that King had plans to return home after the speech.

Another newspaper story also mentioned that King addressed a news conference before he left.

Turner and Robert Peters, D-Chicago, helped pass a Senate Joint Resolution officially acknowledging the commemoration of King's speech first advanced in 2020 by Turner's predecessor, State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill. Manar, who worked with Illinois AFL-CIO president Tim Drea in drafting the resolution, is now the state's deputy governor.

The seven-story Armory, which dates from 1937, will be used for state offices once renovations are complete.

Turner, speaking earlier this week, said the resolution caught her interest shortly after she was appointed to fill Manar's 48th District seat in February 2021.

"It was very important for me to see it through just because of the importance of the subject matter," Turner said.

Another monument in Springfield to King, a statue across from the Illinois Capitol Building that was vandalized on Sept. 11, 2022, may make it back to Freedom Corner by the spring.

Max Walczyk, a spokesman for the Illinois Secretary of State, said in an email Thursday that a Chicago-based restoration company is nearly finished with making repairs the statue.

Turner said there wasn't an exact line item for the plaque but that "funds will be found."

The commemoration was important, Turner said, on a personal note.

"I believe the labor movement really worked hand-in-hand to build the middle class and in a lot of ways I am a direct product of that partnership because my father (Thomas Porter, who worked at Allis-Chalmers , later Fiat-Allis) was a very proud UAW member," Turner said. "I know first-hand what that union membership meant to my family, meant to my mother even after my father died. So I think it's really important to commemorate that.

"If you look at all of the big moments that Dr. King had, you will see labor with him."

Contact Steven Spearie at 217-622-1788; [email protected]; or X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

Advertisement

Biden Draws on Themes of Manhood and Faith at Morehouse Commencement

The president’s appearance at the historically Black college in Atlanta drew some respectful but noticeable protest over U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

• Share full article

Biden Calls on Morehouse College Graduates to Defend Democracy

In a commencement speech at morehouse, the historically black men’s college in atlanta, president biden condemned white supremacy and “extremist forces aligned against the meaning and message of morehouse.”.

You started college just as George Floyd was murdered and there was a reckoning on race. It’s natural to wonder if democracy you hear about actually works for you. What is democracy if Black men are being killed in the street? What is democracy if the trail of broken promises still leave Black communities behind? What is democracy if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot? Well that’s my commitment to you. To show you democracy, democracy, democracy, is still the way. That Black men are being killed in the streets, we bear witness. For me, that means to call out the poison of white supremacy. Graduates, this is what we’re up against: extremist forces aligned against the meaning and message of Morehouse. And they peddle a fiction, a caricature, of what being a man is about — tough talk, abusing power, bigotry. But that’s not you. It’s not us. You all know and demonstrate what it really means to be a man. Being a man is about strength of respect and dignity. It’s about showing up because it’s too late, if you have to ask. It’s about giving hate no safe harbor.

By Katie Rogers and Maya King

Katie Rogers and Maya King reported from the Morehouse College commencement ceremony in Atlanta.

• May 19, 2024

President Biden invoked scripture and lessons from his own tragic past on Sunday in a commencement address to hundreds of young Black men at Morehouse College, saying he believes there are “extremist forces aligned against the meaning and message” of the prestigious institution.

Mr. Biden’s speech, delivered at the historically Black men’s college in Atlanta, put him directly in front of hundreds who represent a slice of the electorate that is drifting away from him over the war in Gaza and growing apathy about their choices ahead of the election. Mr. Biden used the moment to say that manhood was not about “tough talk” and “bigotry” but about calling out hate.

“Their idea of being a man is toxic,” Mr. Biden told the graduates, a reference to adversaries he did not name — but, given that his other events this weekend were focused on attacking his Republican competitor, Donald J. Trump, it was little mystery who he was talking about. “That is not you. That is not us. Being a man is about strength and respect and dignity.”

Those who stormed the Capitol with Confederate flags “are called patriots by some,” he said — a clear reference to Mr. Trump. “Not in my house.”

Mr. Biden’s speech was his first significant appearance before college students since protests over the war in Gaza began roiling campuses. For a ceremony in which students are discouraged even from decorating their caps, the signs of protest were respectful but noticeable: A small group of graduates turned to sit with their backs to Mr. Biden as he spoke, and several graduates wore the kaffiyeh, a traditional scarf associated with the Palestinians, draped over their shoulders. Some parents urged their graduating sons not to protest.

Mr. Biden also called for an immediate cease-fire and said that his administration was working to secure one. He said that members of his family had been upset by the war, a group that includes Jill Biden, the first lady, who has urged her husband in private to bring a stop to it.

“What’s happening in Gaza, in Israel, is heartbreaking,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

In a statement, Morehouse said that discussions between White House officials and students, faculty and alumni had helped shape Mr. Biden’s speech and his calls for a cease-fire in Gaza. The school also praised its graduates. “It is fitting that a moment of organized, peaceful activism would occur on our campus while the world is watching to continue a critical conversation,” the statement read.

During his 27-minute speech, Mr. Biden tried to stress to the graduates — none of whom stood for him as he took the lectern — that throughout his life he had respected and espoused the same ideas they care about.

He said he had worked throughout his life, as a public defender, senator and president, to correct inequalities. He outlined the work his administration has done that he and his advisers believe deserves more credit than it receives, including the forgiveness of large amounts of student loan debt and reducing the poverty rate for Black children.

“We know Black history is American history,” Mr. Biden said at one point, urging the crowd to “check my record,” which includes choosing the first Black female Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and the first Black woman to hold the vice presidency, Kamala Harris.

By focusing on matters of adversity and strength, Mr. Biden also sought to strike a contrast with Mr. Trump not on the grounds of politics or policy but through the lessons of keeping faith in moments of hopelessness. He spoke of the death of his first wife and daughter as well as his eldest son, Beau, from brain cancer.

He told the Morehouse graduates, a class that weathered the chaos of the pandemic and the tumult of widespread protests over the police killings of Black men, that it was natural for them to question whether there was a place for them in democracy at all.

“What is democracy when Black men are being killed in the streets?” he said. “What is democracy when a trail of broken promises still leave Black communities behind? What is democracy when you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot?”

Repeatedly, Mr. Biden reached for religious inspiration, recalling that Jesus was buried on Friday and resurrected on Sunday, leaving Saturday as a day of hopelessness. He suggested that 2020 — the year he was elected, with its twin traumas of the Covid-19 pandemic and the police killing of George Floyd — had been one such Saturday.

At one point, Mr. Biden said, “I’ve learned there was no easy optimism but by faith, by faith you can find redemption.”

Mr. Biden, who has a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Oval Office — and who is old enough to have shared his memories of Dr. King’s assassination in his speech — walked into commencement on Sunday unsure of how the crowd would receive him.

Morehouse, which was established in Atlanta in 1867, is a school whose culture is steeped in tradition. Students spend their years working toward becoming the embodiment of the Morehouse man: well traveled, well read and civically engaged. As the alma mater of Dr. King, there is also a proud history of protesting for social justice.

Mr. Biden’s visit to Morehouse drew the objections of some faculty members, alumni and students, who have voiced anger over the war in Gaza and the American government’s support for Israel. The tension drew so much attention that the school’s president, David A. Thomas, publicly warned that he would stop the commencement if graduates shouted at the president or disrupted the event.

The men of Morehouse found ways to work their opposition to the war into the ceremony. DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, the class valedictorian, took the stage with the Palestinian flag pinned on his stole and on his cap.

“It is my stance as a Morehouse man, nay, as a human being, to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, in the Gaza Strip,” Mr. Fletcher said. Mr. Biden joined the crowd in standing up and clapping when Mr. Fletcher finished, and he shook the graduate’s hand.

But by the end of Mr. Biden’s speech, signs of support were visible, too. As Mr. Biden received an honorary doctorate of law, Mr. Thomas praised the president for listening to the concerns of the graduating class. And some people chanted “four more years” as Mr. Biden left the stage.

After addressing Morehouse, Mr. Biden was set to travel to Detroit to speak at a dinner hosted by the N.A.A.C.P.

Hitting two battleground states in eight hours was the clearest sign yet that Mr. Biden is serious about reintroducing himself to voters who carried him to the White House in 2020 and whose support he will need to win to stay in office for a second term.

In 2020 , 95 percent of Black women and 87 percent of Black men voted for Mr. Biden, according to the Pew Research Center. But in April, only 55 percent of Black voters told Pew that they approved of his job performance. A recent poll by Ipsos and The Washington Post showed that 62 percent of Black Americans planned to vote in 2024, down from 74 percent in 2020.

In recent days, both Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris have traveled outside of Washington to host events geared toward bringing those voters back into the fold.

Mr. Biden’s trip to Detroit comes as the latest New York Times/Siena College poll shows him winning support from less than half of Black voters in Michigan in a five-way race. In 2020, he won more than 90 percent of Black voters in the state, exit polls show.

The war in Gaza and concerns about the economy are driving factors behind what analysts say is an increase in apathy. In Michigan, nearly nine in 10 Black voters rated the economy as being in “fair” or “poor” condition, a higher rate than white voters, the Times/Siena poll found.

Alexis Wiley, the founder of a strategic communications firm in Detroit and a former member of the Democratic National Committee, said the Biden administration had to do more to communicate its victories.

“I think that they’re finally catching up to the fact that people aren’t feeling great,” Ms. Wiley said, “and now there’s this mad dash to try to correct it.”

Reporting was contributed by Nicholas Nehamas in Washington and Chevaz Clarke-Williams , Alan Blinder and Sean Keenan in Atlanta.

Katie Rogers is a White House correspondent. For much of the past decade, she has focused on features about the presidency, the first family, and life in Washington, in addition to covering a range of domestic and foreign policy issues. She is the author of a book on first ladies. More about Katie Rogers

Maya King is a politics reporter covering the Southeast, based in Atlanta. She covers campaigns, elections and movements in the American South, as well as national trends relating to Black voters and young people. More about Maya King

Our Coverage of the 2024 Election

Presidential Race: News and Analysis

Donald Trump and the Republican Party out-raised President Biden and the Democrats in April  for the first time in this election cycle, according to campaign officials. But Biden still has far more cash on hand.

Trump posted a video online that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to “the creation of a unified Reich”  under the headline “What’s next for America?”

Early in his term, Biden seemed to have struck an uneasy truce with the oil and gas industry. But the president’s decision to pause permits for gas export terminals has whipped up industry support for Trump .

Georgia’s Changed Landscape:  Biden’s narrow win in Georgia in 2020 was seen as a sign of the state’s emergence as a battleground. This year could be different .

A Candidate Like Few Others:  Maggie Tamposi Goodlander, the wife of the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is navigating a personal landscape with little precedent  in her run for Congress in New Hampshire.

Political Violence:  Public officials from Congress to City Hall are now regularly subjected to threats of violence. It’s changing how they do their jobs .

Trump’s Running Mate:  Trump’s V.P. search is still in its early stages, but he is said to be leaning toward more experienced options  who can help the ticket without seizing his precious spotlight.